Mobile TV Renegade Aereo Expands into 22 Cities

Aereo, the company that captures OTA TV and sells it as a subscription service, is still wrapped in a legal grey area concerning its service, but that has not slowed it down; it is setting its sights on a next phase, a widespread 22-city rollout in the coming months.

Aereo, the company that captures OTA TV and sells it as a subscription service, is still wrapped in a legal grey area concerning its service, but that has not slowed it down; it is setting its sights on a next phase, a widespread 22-city rollout in the coming months.

The company is based in New York and uses a series of micro antennas to grab existing OTA broadcasts and then sell the service to subscribers. They can then watch the channels on various devices including laptops, Roku boxes, iPhones and iPads. It also has plans to support gaming consoles in the coming year. The service allows pausing of live TV, as well as saving broadcasts for later on-demand viewing. This past week the company announced plans to move into 22 additional cities (the initial rollout was just NYC) and will soon debut in areas such as Boston and Chicago. Barry Diller of IAC Interactive is leading a new round of financing, this time to the tune of $38 million, also announced this past week.

The service has various subscription plans, starting at $1 for a day pass, with 10 days to watch up to three hours of recordings, through $8 a month for unlimited viewing including 20 hours of storage, to $12 a month or $80 a year for 40 hours of storage. The various tiers should appeal to casual viewers wanting to try it to those immersed in watching TV. So far the company has slipped out of injunctions brought on NY networks, but it is far from out of the legal woods as of yet. Traditional broadcast is not too keen on the idea of repurposing and selling live TV, especially since they don’t get a cut. Aereo continues to claim that what it's doing is perfectly legal, and with the fact that it is using tiny antennas to pick up shows for customers, the company is confident they are going about it in a legal manner.

When the Aereo service was a New York City test bed, it was an intriguing premise that seemed like it could disappear in a few months. Quite the contrary, now that it is rolling out to a couple dozen densely populated metropolis areas, Aereo has suddenly become very real. The fact that it now may be playing on a device near you, has caused the industry to closely watch the developments. Anything that can wrestle television out of a monopoly and provide alternate choices could be a very good thing. Especially for local OTA TV, which is in desperate need of some spit and polish to appear relevant in a sea of pay services, satellite and cable.

One thing is clear with this announced rollout, Aereo shows no signs of conceding defeat and absolutely no signs of slowing down.

Aereo is ramping up its commitment to bringing mobile DVRs to consumers with a jump up to 80 hours of storage. Aereo is the New York City-based live mobile TV service that transmits local programming for a fee to portable devices. While being in the news (and being sued by broadcasters) has certainly generated a lot of press, the Barry Diller-backed mobile TV company continues to double down and offer new features to move the test trail to other parts of the country.

Aereo is the controversial service that allows users to essentially rent antennas for a low monthly price and have their local channels available streaming live on their portable devices and Mac/PCs. But there has been an important part of the Aereo puzzle missing, and that is going to be completed on Oct. 22.

Aereo, the broadcast-to-Internet start-up backed by billionaire Barry Diller, has upped its legal battle in New York City. Last week, it countersued Fox, PBS, Univision, WPIX, and WNET asking a U.S. District judge to rule that Aereo isn’t violating the ...

Aereo has launched its much debated online television platform in the New York market and, faced with litigation from broadcasters, has more than $20 million to support a prolonged fight. For $12 a month, the Aereo service provides users with a ...

While the dust has not entirely settled yet, it’s looking less and lees likely that broadcasters will win their court fight to shut down Aereo’s nascent Internet service as a federal judge last week denied a broadcaster-instigated motion for a ...

What many broadcasters see as an interloper, Aereo, is expanding beyond its original New York City operating area. In a February 25th press release, Aereo announced that it will expand its service to a total of 29 counties across New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. To promote the additional service areas, the company is launching a major billboard advertising campaign across NYC.

Most of the major networks have apps that let you watch programming on demand. These days it would be odd to find a major network like ABC, CBS or NBC that did not offer that option. But with so many disruptions pulling consumers away from live TV viewing, and the slow pace of the Dyle branding initiative to bring programming to a majority of portable devices, as well as the legal limbo of self starters like Aereo, networks are starting to think about what is next. And what is next for ABC could be the first live streaming app from a major network.